Spinning Wheels
Spinning Wheels are items featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time. It first appears in the fifth episode of the first season. The Spinning Wheels are based on the items of the same name from the fairytale "Rumpelstiltskin", the fairytale "Sleeping Beauty, and the Disney film Sleeping Beauty. History Years later, in adulthood, Rumplestiltskin marries a woman named Milah and they make a living as wool spinners. Hoping to prove himself as a courageous man, unlike his cowardly father, he joins the Ogre War as a soldier. Unexpectedly, Rumplestiltskin receives a prophecy from a seer in which Milah will soon give birth to their son, but he himself will make his child fatherless. Desperate to change the foreseen future, he deliberately injuries himself and is sent home, though his marriage takes a turn for the worse. Milah, too disappointed in her husband's actions, grows distant and later eventually runs away with a pirate, though Rumplestiltskin is duped into believing she was kidnapped by the same man. Too ashamed to give his son the truth, Rumplestiltskin lies and states Milah is dead. Throughout his son, Baelfire's childhood, he and his father continue to work as wool spinners. After Rumplestiltskin gains ultimate power as the Dark One, he absorbs the seer's foresight ability; therefore allowing him to see into the future. In one future, he sees a woman, Cora, whose first-born child will serve a great purpose to him. At the same time, Cora, after boasting to the king of her skill in spinning straw into gold, is forced to do so in order to save her own life and win the prince's hand in marriage. In the nick of time, Rumplestiltskin tracks Cora down and teaches her to spin straw into gold. As payment for his services, he asks for her first-born child, which she agrees to. Later on, the two fall in love, with Rumplestiltskin changing the deal so any child she has with him will fulfill the terms, and they plan to run away together. In the end, Cora changes her mind, despite that she truly loves him, and instead chooses a life of power and luxury with the prince. In another deal, Rumplestiltskin barters for a maid, Belle, in exchange for protecting her father's land from the rampaging ogres. While she is cleaning his home, she notices him spinning straw into gold. When she inquires about it, Rumplestiltskin claims spinning helps him to forget what he once lost. }} Belle wakes up from a nightmare in which Mr. Gold reverts to his old, cruel self as Rumplestiltskin. While wandering around the pawnshop, she finds him in the basement spinning his wheel and making potions. She questions Mr. Gold about this later only to be rebuffed and disappears, without telling him, due to being angry that he is hiding secrets from her. Not much later, Mr. Gold reveals to her that he needs magic in order to find his long-lost son. After discovering Henry is travelling to the Netherworld and communicating with Aurora, who is from the Enchanted Forest, where Emma and Mary Margaret are trapped, Mr. Gold asks him to deliver a message to them. Henry attempts to tell Aurora, as Mr. Gold requested, about a special squid ink that Emma and Mary Margaret can use to defeat their nemesis, Cora, but fails. As a consequence of Henry's repeated trips to the Netherworld, he receives physical burns. David volunteers to go in his place, so Regina brews a batch of the Sleeping Curse. In the "old-fashioned way" of enacting the curse, David's finger is pricked on a spinning wheel's spindle. }} Continuing to spin, Mr. Gold creates a handful of gold strands when Zelena walks into his cell. Taking his creation, Zelena reminds him what he once said—that spinning helps to cleanse his head—and then she uses magic to transform the pile into a golden brain. Fittingly, it symbolizes Mr. Gold's brain, which is the third ingredient Zelena needs for her time spell. Placing the brain in a box along with the two other ingredients, David's sword and Regina's heart, she prepares to collect the final ingredient—a baby. }} Trivia |-|On-screen Notes= On-screen Notes *Spinning Wheels are featured in the title card for "That Still Small Voice"File:105Title.png and "Skin Deep".File:112Title.png *While Rumplestiltskin is most often seen spinning on a Great Wheel, the wheel that is present in his cottage during "Desperate Souls" is a Saxony wheel, suggesting that he either has multiple spinning wheels or exchanged his Saxony wheel for a Great Wheel after obtaining the Dark One's powers. |-|Cultural References= Fairytales and Folklore *The spinning wheel is a key element from the original fairytale, Rumpelstiltskin. *In the same fashion as the character Sleeping Beauty in the fairytale of the same name, David pricks his finger on a spinning wheel's spindle. Appearances Note: "Archive" denotes archive footage. References de:Rumpelstilzchens Spinnrad es:Rueca de Rumplestiltskin fr:Rouet de Rumplestiltskin Category:Elements with Wish Realm Versions